Budge and co-authors received this prestigious honor for their research articles examining a range of topics related to transgender individuals and communities.

Budge

“Transgender individuals are among some of the most marginalized groups in the current political landscape,” says Budge, an assistant professor with the School of Education’s Department of Counseling Psychology. “There are multiple bills at the highest government levels that could either allow for more equality and influence a reduction in health disparities -- or have significant consequences on the health and well being of transgender populations. It was our hope in publishing this major contribution that we could assist researchers with conducting more justice-focused research.”

An outstanding paper for The Counseling Psychologist is broadly defined to “to include exceptional empirical, theoretical, conceptual, applied, and methodological contributions that substantially and significantly advance a particular topic or area within counseling psychology. This could reflect an individual paper or a collection of papers in a Major Contribution.”

The four papers that are co-authored by Budge and account for the entire major contribution are:

“Historically, research has been harmful to many transgender individuals,” says Budge. “We wanted to contribute to better research practices that center trans individuals at the forefront of research that will benefit them personally, as well as influence policy change.”

Budge and her co-authors will receive their Outstanding Paper Award at the Society of Counseling Psychology Business Meeting during the American Psychological Association’s Annual Convention, which runs Aug. 3-5 in Washington, D.C.